Growth Management

Development of Growth Management

Growth management emerged as a movement in U.S. planning in the 1960s. Given the problems related to urban sprawl, such as environmental degradation and overstretched infrastructure, citizens grew more conscious of their urban and natural environment. Preserving environmental resources was the overriding concern of many of the first-generation growth management programs.

Following regulative and quantitative planning modes fashionable at the time, tools such as boundaries, staging, and growth caps were applied. These first-generation regulations were generally implemented in conjunction with existing planning and zoning regulations.

The development of growth management can be divided into programs driven by the initiatives of single municipalities and those driven by individual [Page 334]state governments. Prominent examples on the local level include Ramapo, New York, where in 1969 the community was divided into land use segments to be realized in a certain order (tiers; staging). In Boulder, Colorado (1972), and Boca Raton, Florida (1972), population growth was limited to 40,000 additional housing units. Petaluma, California, established a growth rate (cap) of 500 housing units per year in 1972.

State growth management programs grew out of land use reform meant to fulfill environmental protection goals. State and local governments would share authority to protect designated areas from growth.

Oregon's innovative growth management system has been a role model for other states. It was the first to empower the state government to control land use by partially shifting growth control power from local governments to the state and by combining different land use approaches. Of especial importance in the development of the Portland metropolitan area is the Metropolitan Service District, a regional government. One of the prime responsibilities of this elected regional government is to manage a growth boundary that curtails development around Portland.

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